The government has decided to allow only three private players to offer 3G mobile services, but Rajasthan, Assam and the North East, which were not on the 3G map earlier due to unavailability of spectrum, will also figure in the bidding process.

“The Government has decided to assign by auction up to 3 blocks of 5x2 Mhz of paired in the 2.1 Ghz band in each of the 22 circles,” according to the draft Notice Inviting Application, which also said the auction is being planned for February 12.

The draft also said efforts are on to vacate more spectrum from defence.

“It is to be made clear that some of the 3G spectrum that is being offered for auction is in the process of being vacated by the present user and it has been decided that successful bidders in the auction will be allowed to launch commercial operations using the spectrum from September 2, 2010,” it said.

For the avoidance of doubt, successful bidders will be allocated specific frequency blocks within 15 days from the date of payment of the bid amount and will be allowed to import equipment and conduct testing, the draft added.

Further, efforts are being made to make one more block of spectrum, 2x5 Mhz spectrum in 2.1 Ghz band, available by January 2013, it said further.

The successful bidders would be asked to pay 100 per cent of the bidding amount in March this year.

3G spectrum is also available for Rajasthan, Assam and North East, which was not earlier on the list of auction, due to unavailability of the radio waves, the draft said.